Butler began the second half of the Prospect League baseball season in the same way it ended the first half.

With a loss to West Virginia.

Seneca Valley graduate Connor Coward struggled in his worst outing of the season, allowing six runs, five of them earned, on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings as the BlueSox fell to the Miners, 6-2, in Beckley, W.Va. Thursday night.

Coward did strike out six and didn’t walk a batter. He entered the game 2-0 with a 1.91 ERA, but saw that balloon to 2.87 at the end of the night.

The BlueSox (14-17 overall, 0-1 in the second half) managed just five singles against a quartet of West Virginia pitchers.

Butler is 1-7 against West Virginia this season.

Reed Bright got the win for the Miners. He gave up one run in five innings while striking out five and walking four.

Tyler Niemann and Will Schneider each had RBI singles for Butler, which will head to Champion City for a pair of games today and Saturday before returning home Sunday and July 4th for home games at Kelly Automotive Park against Chillicothe.